Introduction
New warning labels for alcohol could reduce alcohol-related health harms. This study
examined consumer responses to alcohol warnings with different designs.
Methods
A national sample of 3,051 U.S. adults completed an online survey in August 2021.
Participants were randomized to 1 of 4 warning topics (addiction, liver damage, early
death, or colon cancer). Participants viewed 3 labels presented in random order: 2
types of warning labels (text-only and icon) showing a newly developed warning message
about their assigned topic and a text-only control label showing a neutral message.
Participants rated each label on effectiveness at discouraging alcohol consumption
(primary outcome) and attention (secondary outcome) using 1-to-5‒point Likert-type
scales. Participants also rated warnings with different causal language variants (e.g.,
“increases the risk of”, “contributes to”) and marker words (e.g., “WARNING”, “SURGEON
GENERAL WARNING”).
Results
Both the text-only and icon warnings were perceived as more effective (average differential
effects=0.79 and 0.86, respectively) and more attention grabbing (average differential
effects=0.43 and 0.69, respectively) than control labels (all p<0.001). The icon warnings were rated as more effective and attention grabbing than
the text-only warnings (average differential effects=0.07 and 0.27, respectively,
both p<0.001). Although all warning topics outperformed the control messages, warnings about
addiction were rated as less effective and attention grabbing than warnings about
the other topics. A majority (60%) of participants selected “increases the risk of”
as the most discouraging causal variant, and a plurality (47%) selected “SURGEON GENERAL
WARNING” as the most discouraging marker word.
Conclusions
New alcohol warnings could discourage alcohol consumption, especially if warnings
include icons.
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: October 26, 2022
Identification
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© 2022 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
